Rhode Island Lottery celebrates 40th anniversary

PROVIDENCE — What are the odds? You invite the governor to pick the daily number and the machine breaks down — briefly.

PROVIDENCE — What are the odds? You invite the governor to pick the daily number and the machine breaks down — briefly.

The winning midday number Friday was 9395, in case you were wondering.

Dozens of people, including the CEO of GTECH, gathered at the State House to celebrate the Rhode Island Lottery’s 40th anniversary — it opened May 30, 1974. The first drawing also took place at the State House.

Since then, the Lottery has generated $34.6 billion in sales, $5.3 billion in state funds and $26 billion in prizes, according to Lottery director Gerald Aubin.

“It was right here in a storefront on Smith Street, where the Lottery first set up shop with chairs borrowed from a local funeral home, before moving to its first headquarters, on Warren Avenue in East Providence,” Aubin told the crowd.

Aubin said none of the Lottery’s achievements would have been possible without the more than 1,100 retailers across Rhode Island, from mom-and-pop stores to corporate chains. Retailers have reaped more than $379.6 million in commissions since 1974.

John Rossi, manager of Phred’s Drugs in Cranston, was one of the Lottery’s first retailers at number eight. His father, Michael, was the one who got the family into the lottery business.

“My dad, he was from Federal Hill,” Rossi said. “He knew the games were a popular pastime. Of course, they weren’t legal back then. He wanted in [on the legal games]. He was a smart man.”

At first, Phred’s Drugs sold a few thousand dollars worth of tickets. Today, the store is on track to sell $1.2 million this year with an estimated $600,000 in prize money.

Maj. Peter J. O’Connell, formerly of the Rhode Island State Police, was the Lottery’s first executive director. He came to the job reluctantly. O’Connell was angling to become superintendent of the state police, a position he held briefly when Col. Walter Stone was ill.

When Gov. Philip Noel first asked O’Connell to lead the Lottery, he said no. The governor called him a “cement head.” A week later, Noel asked again and O’Connell refused.

“But I wasn’t stupid,” O’Connell said. “The governor appoints the head of the state police. So I told him, ‘I’ll give you two years. Then I’ll return to the state police.’”

O’Connell wound up spending 20 years as Lottery director.

“And when I left, Colonel Stone was still there,” he said to laughter from the crowd.

A lot has changed since the Lottery began with its first instant game, Play Ball. Now, the Lottery offers more than 30 instant tickets, from the Numbers Game to Mega Millions.

PowerBall is by far the most popular. It has grown from its modest beginnings in 1998 as Lotto America, with seven participating states, to the 42-state jackpot that it is today.

The Rhode Island Lottery also oversees Twin River, a casino, and Newport Grand, which has video lottery terminals or slot machines.

GTECH got its start thanks to the Rhode Island Lottery. The two founders of that company, Guy Snowden and Victor Markowicz, built their small company into an industry giant.

GTECH president and CEO Jaymin Patel, said much of the new technology that his company has developed began in Rhode Island. “Our first lottery terminal was a Lord & Taylor’s point-of-sale [machine],” he said.

“We have 200 employees who have been with us for more than 25 years,” Patel said. “These people have made GTECH great. This is our home”